Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
From ‘Wife Swap’ to politics
Couple leads push for voter referendum that targets fears of noncitizens voting
Gina Loudon has proudly proclaimed Donald Trump to possibly be the “most soundminded” president in the nation’s history and boasted about spending time with him on Air Force One.
She even once appeared as a “staunch tea party activist” on the television show “Wife Swap” to promote her conservative family values.
Now, the West Palm Beachbased political commentator and her husband have a new mission — pushing a ballot initiative that would change the Florida Constitution to specify that “only a citizen” can vote.
The couple’s recently formed group — Florida Citizen Voters — already has raised nearly $2 million to fund the petition drive needed to get the question on the 2020 presidential ballot. That makes it the top fundraiser this year among Florida political committees so far.
All that money is going toward an effort that would have no practical effect on the state’s elections. Florida law already requires a person to be a citizen to register to vote.
A more likely motive is to energize Trump supporters in the 2020 election, said Michael McDonald, a political scientist at the University of Florida who studies voting and elections. Trump has made numerous baseless claims of massive voter fraud
and widespread voting by noncitizens.
“The purpose here is trying to gin up an issue so that people can talk about it rhetorically,” McDonald said.
The initiative has just started. The group will need to gather 766,200 signatures from registered voters across the state to have the issue placed on the ballot. No signatures had been submitted to the state as of Friday.
The measure’s wording would undergo a review by the Florida Supreme Court. It would then need the support of at least 60 percent of voters to pass.
The group’s proposal would make a slight change in wording to the Florida Constitution, which presently reads, “Every citizen of the United States who is at least eighteen years of age and who is a permanent resident of the state, if registered as provided by law, shall be an elector of the county where registered.”
The amendment would change “every citizen” to “only a citizen.”
Although not in the state constitution, Florida law already mandates that a person be a citizen to register to vote, according to the Florida Department of State. Citizenship is the first question on the voter-registration form. Submitting false information is a felony offense.
Gina Loudon, who frequently appears on conservative shows as “Dr. Gina,” lists herself as a spokeswoman for the group. Her husband, John Loudon, a former Republican Missouri state senator, serves as the group’s chair and treasurer.
Florida Citizen Voters, a political action committee, registered with the state in November.
The couple appears to have the president’s ear. In a radio interview last month, Gina Loudon mentioned mingling with Trump on weekends in Palm Beach as a member of his Mara-Lago private club. She talked about how she shared Starburst candy with him on Air Force One.
She uses a photo of herself with the president on Air Force One to promote her speaking engagements.
Author of a book titled “Mad Politics: Keeping Your Sanity in a World Gone Crazy,” Loudon is a frequent guest on Fox News and conservative talk shows. She bills herself as having “psychological expertise” and lists herself as a member of Trump’s “2020 Media Advisory Board.”
“My book actually uses science and real data and true psychological theory to explain why it is quite possible that this president is the most sound-minded person to ever occupy the White House,” Loudon said on Sept. 5 on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News.
According to her website, Loudon holds a doctorate degree in “human and organizational systems” from Fielding Graduate University, an online school. The state does not list her as a licensed psychologist. Her website says she is a “certified hypnotherapist, but does not practice.”
Trump gave her book a boost in November by tweeting an endorsement to his 59 million followers.
Her husband, John Loudon, has worked as a policy adviser for the pro-Trump dark money organization America First Policies. He served 14 years in the Missouri Legislature, leaving in 2008 because of term limits.
The couple left Missouri in 2012 for California, where they appeared on an episode of the reality show “Wife Swap.” In the episode, Gina Loudon — described as a “staunch tea party activist” — swapped lives with “an apolitical polyamorous wife,” according to the episode’s promo.
The Loudons purchased their West Palm Beach home in August 2017. John Loudon lists his current job as vice president of government affairs at West Palm Beach-based Engineered Tax Services.
Gina Loudon wrote on Twitter during Florida’s heated recounts that the couple moved to escape “socialism” and “corruption” in California and fight for Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.
In an email, John Loudon wrote that the group’s mission is simple — making sure that the Florida’s constitution is clear. Only a few cities elsewhere in the United States permit noncitizens to vote in local elections. For instance, San Francisco allows noncitizens to vote in school board races.
But no city in Florida allows noncitizens to vote in local elections. Still, Loudon is concerned because the state constitution does not explicitly spell out that only citizens can vote.
“Citizen Voters believes we should fix this missing protection before more places dilute the votes of U.S. citizens and diminish the sacrifices naturalized citizens took to legally gain their right to vote in our elections,” Loudon wrote.
Loudon wrote the initiative is part of a broader movement to amend constitutions in other states and “even the U.S. Constitution.”
Since January, Florida Citizen Voters has raised more than $1.9 million. Of that money, about $828,000 is in-kind contributions for signature-gathering, state records show. In-kind contributions are donated services that are provided for free.
John Loudon also chairs the sole source of Florida Citizen Voters’ cash: Citizen Voters Inc., a nonprofit based in Ponte Vedra Beach.
He declined to disclose his donors to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, but he wrote that the group will comply with all campaign finance reporting requirements.
The ballot initiative process has also been used by causes popular with Democratic voters. In the 2016, Floridians authorized medical marijuana. Last year, voters signed off on automatically restoring voting rights to most Floridians with felony convictions.
Evidence does not support claims that noncitizen voting is a factor in elections, McDonald said.
In 2012, former Gov. Rick Scott’s administration reviewed the more than 11 million people on the state’s voting rolls for noncitizens. It found 207 ineligible voters.
“They are breaking state law and they could be deported as a consequence of it,” McDonald said. “They are not going to risk this just to vote in an election.”